Magi Tribe: Cross Ranger
by TheMagiSpirit
Summary: Five years ago, a meteor shower peppered the Earth with rock. For most it was mere curiosity, a chance to get outside at night and watch a wonder of the universe. And yet with that shower came the Black Water, a vile liquid infection that seeped from the meteor fragments themselves, mutating all life it touched. CONTINUED INSIDE
1. Incursion One: The Black Water Menace

_Five years ago, a meteor shower peppered the Earth with rock. For most it was mere curiosity, a chance to get outside at night and watch a wonder of the universe. And yet with that shower came the Black Water, a vile liquid infection that seeped from the meteor fragment's themselves._

_ Now, five years later the Agency, a special branch of the military, established the quarantine wall just south of Steele City to prevent the spread of the infection to local wildlife. The city and the wall are a bastion of hope against a raising tide of Black Water that has consumed much of the country, yet the mutants and hybrids are getting stronger, more dangerous, and the north has become overcrowded with refugees..._

_ In this climate, an ancient hereditary power awakens in unsuspecting citizens to combat the threat._

* * *

**Incursion One****: **_**The Black Water Menace**_**.**

Over the roar of panic spreading through the city streets like a bush fire, policemen and Agency soldiers attempt to contain the situation. "… _Stay in your homes. I repeat. This is not a drill. Stay in your homes._"

Robert Lam tore through the crowds searching for his friend. "Allison!"

One minute he was walking home from work. The next he heard an explosion from near the quarantine wall south of the city. He had a fair idea of what was happening, just as any citizen of Steele City would.

A mutant from the wasteland beyond the wall must have broken past the defences again.

No matter. Once he found Allison they'd bunker up indoors and wait it out. The military _always_ pushed back the incursions.

Military helicopters swooped in overhead and the sound of jet engines could be heard a mile off. Search lanterns blazed through the quickly receding daylight.

For an instant, Robert spotted Allison darting around the corner of the block. He called after her and gave chase.

Evidently she had not heard him, for when he broke into the next street she was nowhere to be seen. At the far end of the avenue, Robert spotted the swarming armed forces. He saw the ragged edge of the wall and the wildness beyond, where, whatever it was, had blasted a huge hole through metres of reinforced concrete.

He didn't see the monstrous, infected elk until it loomed over him, dagger teeth dripping with the vile black ichor meteorite showers had brought to Earth half a decade ago. If someone told him then that an infection from space, an alien ichor, would take over half the southern regions of the country, he might have laughed. Aliens? Where was the evidence?

Well, _here _was the evidence. They weren't alone in the universe.

"Oh wow…" Robert backed away. He continued, as though humouring the beast would work. "Well aren't you a big ol' thing."

The Elk dragged it's hooves along the ground, ripping through concrete like it were sand and snorting clouds of vapour in the chill, late summer air.

"I gotta tell you, boy. You really don't want to eat me."

The Elk roared. Could deer roar?

"Okay, maybe you do… but I'm really not that tasty and I certainly wouldn't make a good mutant." He searched for an escape route. "I'm useless see. When everyone runs away from you, what do I do? Yeah, that's right, I run towards you. _Of course I do…_"

As Robert move backwards up the middle of the avenue, the infected elk kept pace, eyes locked on his. He thought he saw intelligence, even emotion, in those oversized eyes but like a dream it dissolved a second later.

A search lantern snapped on overhead, dazzling the elk. It reared up, antler locked through a helicopter's landing tracks. The elk thrashed once and the soldier operating the lantern tumbled from the open side doors. It's thrashed again and pulled the helicopter out of the sky.

Robert pushed the sound of the soldier hitting the pavement out of mind and ducked down a narrow side street. Most people were well practised in ignoring the sickening facts of the modern life.

Hands clamped down on his shoulders and a slender finger pressed up against his lips.

Robert twisted and saw who it was, instantly recognising her from the blonde hair and denim jacket emblazoned with various pin badges from memorable humanitarian rallies.

He relaxed and she released him.

"No loud sounds," whispered Allison.

He jerked a thumb back at the downed helicopter and the rampaging beast stamping through its aluminium, fibreglass shell. "Thank god for the Agency, huh?"

"A guy lost his life, Robert."

"That's what they sign up for…"

"He - he probably had a family."

Robert sighed. "I know."

Allison wrapped her arms around him in a tight, squeezing hug. "I'm glad you're not beast chow though."

He smiled, and locked his arms together behind her back. "I'm glad too. I look better whole… not splattered across a street somewhere."

He opened his eyes to a strange sight.

On the back of his hands glowed two symbols. One red and shaped like a licking flame, and the other grey-white like a shard of metal, both encircled with thin pulsating lines.

"Allison?" Robert pulled back.

"I know," she replied and held out her own hands, "look."

Indeed, two symbols graced her flesh as well; a shining white wisp of air and a stylised golden sun.

"What is this?" He ran a finger over the red flame. It felt… warm, yet not like the human body should be. To the touch, it felt little more than skin.

She shrugged. "How the hell should I know?"

Out in the street, the elk roared. As though driven by some new unseen madness, it charged them down but couldn't fit its bulk down the street. It tried, it thrashed and it flailed and cracks snaked their way across the masonry on either side.

"We should do something about that…"

"Probably," Allison agreed.

"Shall we run?" Neither of them moved an inch. The symbols on his hand pulsed brighter, searing an unspoken message into his skin. Robert sighed and hung his head. "We're not going to run, are we?"

Muscles rippled in the elk's legs as it forced its way further forward.

"How can we leave that thing knocking around?"

"The military can-"

"They can't do shit, Robert. They've been losing for months. The mutants just get stronger." Allison held her hands up in his face. "This means something, I can feel it."

The beast pushed its way in past the neck of the side street toward them. Masonry sliced into its flank and crumbled to the ground.

"Now or never," Robert shrugged.

The elk bore down upon them. Until then he'd ignored what they were getting into. _How the hell do we take down a three ton monstrosity?_

A jolt of pain shot through his head and everything became clearer, like a short, sharp storm clearing a clinging, humid fog. His eyes flashed toward his hands, and then over to Allison. He could see a mutual understanding in her eyes.

Robert and Allison step in front of the elk, giving it pause. The beast must have been quite used to pitiful little creatures like them running away, not this.

They crossed their arms at their waists and called, "Cross Form!"

The flame and air symbols on Robert and Allison's right hand shimmered and shifted, becoming a semi-circular metal object with a large recess in the centre. Their second symbols, the shard of metal and the golden sun, drained away and became shining jewels settled in the recess.

They swung their arms in opposing arcs. The gems lit up, red for Robert and a bright white for Allison, and by the time they'd recrossed their arms in a plus across their chests, the light overtook them.

The elk moved a step back and bared its razor teeth.

When the power receded, Robert and Allison found themselves clad in hyper-flexible suits of armour. Robert's red suit had metal grey accents and Allison's white suit, golden ones. Their sleek helmets were divided between the two colours straight across the horizontal, just below the visor. A perfect blend of their two symbols sat proudly upon their foreheads.

The beast roared and roared. Its jaws opened wider and wider and wider still until its head peeled like a banana, folding back on itself with a sickening crunch. The mass of Black Water in place of its tongue seeped forth and became a roiling, bubbling, seething pillar that reached out to them.

A gash split the pillar in half and formed a mouth of sorts. It spoke in a deep bass. "_Magi_… _magi…_"

Robert and Allison shared a look.

"_Magi!_"

"So what if we are?" said Robert.

"_You will be eliminated…_"

"I thought you might say that." He couldn't explain why the defiled creature before him didn't disgust him. He couldn't explain how he knew what a Magi was. In a way, he _didn't_ know, it was just instinct.

"_You… will be eliminated…_"

The black mass morphed once more, shifting into a crude approximation of the elk's now utterly destroyed head. Two horns made from the bones of the creature protruded from it and a pair of arms formed from the remaining ichor and flexed.

To Robert, it looked rather like a pitch demon was trying to crawl out of the elk's body the hard way. "Shall we, Allison?"

"Seems to be our duty."

He raised his hand, palm face forward and called, "Flame advent."

A cone of crimson fire burst forth. For all its talk of Magi, the Elk was caught off guard and took the attack full force in the face. It screamed unlike anything Robert had ever heard and leaped back into the street.

"Let me try." Allison stretched her arms out wide. "Tornado advent."

Wind whipped around her feet and surrounded her in a whirling vortex of dust and rubble. One by one, Allison flung chunks of masonry at the Elk then released the tornado. The wild winds picked up the three ton monster and sent it crashing into a nearby rental store.

It struggled for a moment before expiring; its body abused one iota too far.

The Black Water poured from it as though it knew when to abandon ship, and soon lay in a small lake before them. From the pool rose six slim, vaguely humanoid figures. They pulled themselves onto dry land and shambled slowly toward the new magi.

"Heh… neat party trick."

Before they could form a plan of attack, two new military helicopters swooped in from overhead.

Squads of soldiers abseiled to the ground and quickly encircled the grunts. No orders passed between them, they simply opened fire with their semi-automatics.

The grunts fell back to the pool of Black Water and one by one merged with it. The lake coalesced into a ball. Tendrils shot from it impaling the soldiers all at once through the throat, killing them instantly

The helicopters retreated back towards the breach in the wall - safety in numbers perhaps, or returning to the wall for backup - and Allison and Robert swore in unison.


	2. Incursion Two: Force Majeure, part 1

**Incursion Two****: **_**Force Majeure, part 1.**_

The tentacles snapped back to the black mass and the soldiers crumpled the ground. A single unblinking eye formed on the ball, and it spoke in the same voice as before even though it had no mouth.

"_This is what happens. Give yourself to us and we will consider sparing your species any more harm._"

Allison raised her hand. "Only consider?"

"_We are superior. You will be eliminated."_

"Yeah. Not going to happen." Robert shook his head. "Flame Advent!"

His crimson flames flowed around the sphere, but this time didn't touch it.

"_We are superior. We will give you time to consider the fate of your species._"

The Black Water shot up into the air and flew clear over the wall. A number of jets screamed passed in pursuit.

A military APV rumbled up the road towards them. For a moment, Robert expected trouble but when the soldiers within first attended to their fallen ex-comrades, he relaxed somewhat. In theory, they were on the same side. Even if things had gotten a little more complicated with the introduction of the magi element.

A severe-looking woman with captain's pips on her epaulets advanced upon them.

"Who are you?"

It took little more than a second for Robert to consider the power responsible for their transformation, and make up a designation on the spot. "We're… the Cross Rangers."

The captain turned the phrase over in her head and shrugged. "I've never heard of you, but … thanks I guess."

Allison played along. "Glad to know we're appreciated."

"Be that as it may, white _uh_ ranger, my superior would like a word with you." She stood to attention and her voice took on a cold, steely quality. "My orders are to bring you in for questioning. Can I count on your cooperation?"

"Can we have a second?" Robert glanced back at Allison. Though unable to read her expression through her helmet, he figured they were on the same wave length.

The captain nodded and turned to gather her men—and the corpses—back onto the APV.

"We can't reveal ourselves," Allison whispered.

"I _know_. Don't think we want that kind of attention." Strange to think only a few minutes ago he was just some guy. Now he had to actually think about what he did, because he could have made matters worse if he wasn't careful.

"So what do we do?"

Robert shrugged. "Let's play along for now, but stay morphed. It can't hurt to humour them, get them on side."

She nodded. "Right. Don't want to piss anyone off."

"Exactly."

The captain strode back over to them, assuming they were finished. "Okay you two. Do we have a deal?"

"We do," Robert replied.

o0o

Ken Powel, Allison's younger brother, had decided to use the incursion as a distraction. He checked the coast was clear before dashing over the road to community centre.

He and his friends had been watching the centre for weeks. On an ordinary day, the centre would be visited by kids, teens, and adults alike, looking to partake in one of its many activities or simply kick back for a bit. But every so often, a group of men and women wearing coveralls, carrying tools would disappear inside after closing.

Initially they figured the centre was getting a makeover, but when nothing seemed different in the weeks that followed, they knew something was up.

So here he was, because his so-called mates had chickened out.

o0o

Once they reach the military base camp by the wall, Robert and Allison were ushered into the helicopter that would take them to HQ. They quickly discovered they didn't need the ear defenders or an intercom. Their suits did it all for them.

"I'm not supposed to being talking to you but…" said the Captain after a few minutes. They were now over the other side of the city, about to leave it altogether. "Where do you two come from?"

"Right here. Born and bred," Robert said without thinking.

"Like, who made those suits? That's some pretty rad tech if you ask me."

Allison wanted to believe the Captain was only being friendly, but she couldn't shake the feeling they were being taken for dissection. She cut in before Robert could say anything incriminating. "Trade secret."

"Oh…" She turned back to the cockpit. "I understand."

Intuition led her actions once more. Allison switched to a private comms channel. "_We can't say too much._"

"_We don't really know anything ourselves._"

"_These people are suspicious by nature and they're probably pretty tired of fighting these… these things from beyond the wall." _She glanced at the captain and the pilot. "_If I were them, _I'd _want these suits. I would stop at nothing to ensure they were under military control._"

"_You're right… as usual._"

"_If we can get through this meeting, then we only have to worry about not being caught again._"

Silence reigned for the rest of the trip.

Allison struggled to know what to do. Suddenly she was in possession an awesome power, one she could control by instinct alone. Did that make her a hero? If their duty was to use the power to protect people, then maybe they'd just run out of free will. It was out of their control; force majeure.

She had always wanted to help people. Until now that meant demonstrations, rallies, charity work, but none of it forced the Black Water back from where it came. It couldn't.

Now she had the power to do just that, did she want it?

She looked at Robert. What did he think of all of this? Did he think much of anything, or, usual Robert, was just he going with flow?

The helicopter settled onto a helipad clinging to the side of Mt. Steele. They were directed outside and told to wait.

Within a couple of seconds, a stocky man with a buzz cut charged at them across the tarmac with all the grace of a bull, but the captain stepped intercepted and snapped off a salute.

"These are the cross rangers, sir," she said.

Allison took stock of the mountain side. The helipad seemed to only thing for miles, that and the door set innocuously into the sheer rock face. There had to be more…

The General looked at them with contempt. "Good. Bring them in." He turned on the balls of his feet and marched straight back inside.

Busy man?

"_That_ was General Bryant." The captain gulped. "Stay on his good side, kids. Please."

Only inside the mountain did Allison realise the extent of the military operation here. Were they Agency holding bac?

The captain lead them through what felt like miles and miles of corridor to a small briefing room, where she bade them good luck and so long.

It took at least half an hour for anyone to show up, but Allison didn't dare speak. She'd read enough about interrogation rooms in crime fiction to recognise what was going on. It _was_ a common technique after all: _let your quarry stew for a while, let them worry, and when you finally come round to questioning it'll be like taking candy from a baby._

Allison imagined it worked especially well when you confined two prisoners in the same room. You just had to wait until they talked themselves into an arrest.

She wanted to tell Robert to stay strong, or failing that, to shut up. If any of them were to start a major international incident, it wouldn't have been Allison and her demonstrations against the man. That honour went to Robert and his big mouth. She loved him, but he didn't half have a tendency to run off on one, given the chance.

So far he'd gotten the idea.

Eventually General Bryant joined them, flanked by two young women. One took notes and the other regarded their power suits with a technician's eye.

He looked at the clock behind their heads. "Time is 1732 hours. General Bryant, Sergeant Cartwright and Lieutenant Moses in attendance."

The two women sat opposite Robert and Allison, while Bryant paced behind them. He looked as though he were waiting to build a head of steam before questioning them.

"Firstly," he boomed. "I'm obliged to say thank you, on behalf of the Agency, for your efforts in dealing with this afternoon's incursion."

"Don't mention it," said Robert.

Allison hung her head. Bryant narrowed his eyes, no doubt making mental notes.

"Secondly, the Agency respectfully asks you to hand over the technology you possess. It surely belongs with us..." He pushed his way between Cartwright and Moses and slammed his hands on the table. "Not a bunch of kids!"

Allison politely raised her hand.

"If I may speak, sir?" A grunt was all the affirmation she got. "As it is, you neither know how old we are beneath our suits, nor how to use them if we _did_ hand them over."

"Is that so?" He chuckled. "Moses. Bring in the boy."

They hesitated, and glanced at each other. What could he mean?

The lieutenant left the room and returned momentarily with a blonde young man in tow. Though he wasn't handcuffed, he may as well have been.

"Ken!" Allison shot to her feet, but General Bryant forced her back into her seat himself.

"I see I've struck a nerve…" He rounded the table again and swung an arm around Ken's shoulders. The boy flinched. "Aren't you glad to see your brother is okay, Miss Allison Powel?"

He pushed Ken toward the two of them.

"How about you, young Robert Lam?"

Lieutenant Moses took her seat again. She looked at the General once, then spoke in his stead.

Her voice was softer, almost genuine. "We can be friends. We both want the same thing here."

Robert stood, his power suit melted away from him. No point keeping up a failed ruse. "I'm sure we are. But it's best for us all if we're left in peace."

"Are you threatening the Agency, Mr Lam?" said Bryant.

"What if I am?"

"Okay look." Allison's voice cut through the commotion giving every pause, even the General.

She too unmorphed. "General Bryant was it? I don't know what you're trying to prove by kidnapping my brother. In the spirit of cooperation… that seems a bit much. You're fishing for answers that we can't give you."

"Be that as it may, Miss Powel, in this city, within these walls, I'm in charge. So you'll kindly keep a lid on your emotions." He turned away to face the mirror wall opposite. "It's my job to enforce the quarantine. _Therefore_, any efforts to that effect fall under my duress, vis-a-vie, you, quote-unquote, Cross Rangers. Either you're with me, or against me. Allies, or an obstacle to be removed."

Allison shot a look at her brother, one that asked if he was okay. He nodded, though seeming worse for wear.

She turned back to the General. "You're the one who deals in strategy, sir, but even I can see how foolish it would be to fight a war on two fronts." She cleared her throat. Never in a million years would she have thought she'd stand up to military general. "We're your best hope against everything beyond the quarantine."

General Bryant didn't speak for at least a minute. He stared at Allison, as though he hoped through sheer force of will, she would disappear from sight.

"I would rather my best men be in possession of your suits."

"I'm afraid they're quite a part of us, sir."

He nodded, turning his nose up at them. "I'll have to see that with my own eyes."


	3. Incursion Three: Force Majeure, part 2

Incursion Three: Force Majeure, part 2.

Soon Sergeant Cartwright and General Bryant left, the latter having had enough of them for one season.

Lieutenant Moses smiled at them. "I meant what I said earlier. We can be allies."

"I'm sorry, I'm sure you're a lovely person at home, but right now I'd rather be with my brother and my best friend. Thanks," Allison sneered. If they thought they'd get away with this, they should have thought again. They'd pushed her way too far.

"Okay, okay, we probably deserve that…" Moses raised her hands in defeat. "Kidnapping isn't our usual MO, not by any stretch, but knowing your background we needed the leverage. I've been ordered to show you to your quarters and- and you just ask for me if you need anything."

"We're not prisoners then?" Robert folded his arms.

"Oh no, no… for now you're guests."

"So, we can leave whenever we want?" asked Ken.

"Afraid not," she apologised. "General Bryant has a few more things he wants to discuss with you. Now, if you'll follow me?"

o0o

The room they were shown to contained a set of bunk beds and a military issue camp bed, erected hastily after their arrival no doubt.

Robert settled down onto the camp bed and lay with his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling. The Powel siblings retired to the bottom bunk.

"How did you get here, Ken?" said Allison.

"They picked me up just outside the community centre. I–"

"You were trying to break into that basement again, weren't?" She accused. "Don't lie."

"I told you, Al. Micky thinks they've got a huge bunker down there. Apparently that's where they store all their extra secret anti-mutant weaponry."

"And now you've seen their real base, what's your opinion?" She stood, and scanned the room hoping it wasn't bugged.

Ken looked at his feet. "I still say there's something down there. I just thought I'd take a look…while everyone was panicking... you know?"

Allison covered her eyes. "You weren't picked up because they knew who we were. You were picked up for breaking and entering when you should have been observing the curfew. They used you to out our true identities." She groaned and cursed herself. It still didn't explain how Bryant knew their names though. "Stupid girl!"

"I didn't even break anything," muttered Ken

"It's not your fault," Robert sighed. He stayed focused on the ceiling. "We both know I'd have said something stupid eventually."

Ken and Allison burst out laughing. Soon Robert joined them.

The two of them playing superhero against villainous mutants… The situation was absurd. Of course they'd incriminated themselves. They weren't trained for this. They were just regular people.

As regular as magi could be…

"What are you guys gonna do?" said Ken.

"I was kind of hoping a plan would creep up on me." Robert shrugged. "That way I'd have no choice but to go along with it."

Allison shook her head. "You really are predictable, Rob…"

"Well, what's your plan?"

"Touche," she groaned. "We have lives though, don't we. I can't just leave all that behind to go chasing an ideal world that may never exist."

A klaxon blared throughout the base before anyone could reply. Allison's statement hung in the air like an apparition.

The patter of heavy footsteps sounded beyond the door. Robert leaped to his feet and craned his neck, attempting to see out of the little reinforced window of their 'quarters'.

No sooner had he done so did the door swing open to reveal the General himself.

"If you kids," he spat, "are serious about being heroes, then I have a job for you."

They joined him in the hall.

"The Black Water has reanimated the corpses of the soldiers you couldn't protect and infiltrated the base through the morgue. I want you to join forces with a squad of my men headed by Sergeant Cartwright and take them down before they infect anyone else. Do I make myself clear?"

The rangers nodded.

Robert cringed and scratched the back of his head. "Why should I help you?"

Ignoring the new red ranger, Allison looked back at Ken. "We'll do this, as long as you keep my brother safe."

"You have my word and honour, Miss Powel…" the general said. "Reluctantly."

o0o

The reanimated soldiers, eyes, nose and mouth dripping with black ichor, ransacked each and every room they came across. They seemed to be looking for something.

The corpse of Private Andrew Williams shambled out into the corridor and paused to stare down the barrel of Sergeant Cartwright's gun.

"Hi, Drew. How is going? Having fun?" She taunted, before pulling the trigger.

The Private stumbled backward from the force, but, even with most of his jaw missing and replaced with Black Water, he didn't slow down.

The corpse lashed out at Cartwright with its inhuman claws. She twisted out the away, narrowly avoiding infection.

"Let's play, zombie dude." Robert stepped from the ranks of Cartwright's squad, followed by Allison.

They struck their poses, arms crossed down by their waists. The magi symbols blazed on the back of their hands. "Cross Form!"

The reanimated cowered from the light of their morphers. The power of the gems burst from them and clad them in their armour.

Before the corpses could find their bearings, the rangers leaped forward.

Red Cross barrelled into the remains of Private 'Drew', knocking him off his feet. He rolled with the momentum and sprung up into another of the reanimated soldiers, staggering her. He was grappled from behind by a recovered Drew and a pair of corpses lay into him with their fists.

"Tornado advent!" White Cross called a blast of wind to whoosh down the corridor, bowling most off their feet, yet freeing Red Cross.

They regrouped with Cartwright while they had the chance.

"What do we do?" asked the red ranger. "There's not a lot of room in here."

The Sergeant considered this for a moment. "We'll lead them into the hangers. This way."

A fire team from Cartwright's soldiers cleared a path through the corpses allowing the others to break through.

Thankfully the corpses took the bait, with a bit of coaxing from Red Cross, and shambled after them.

When they got to the hanger, the rangers were waiting for them.

"Flame advent." Red Cross launch two pillars of fire at the corpses, cornering them at the door. This gave the soldiers a chance to pump them full of lead, concentrating on the head.

The corpses eventually began to collapse, though they tried to take as many of the living with them as they could.

Before it could infect anyone else, the Black Water relinquished its hold over them, and streamed up towards the ceiling, forming another large ball-like mass.

White Cross faltered in her attack. What did it want? Had it been testing them all this time?

"Eyes on the ball, guys," called Red Cross. He felt a little silly ordering men who'd doubtlessly fought one of these things before.

The Black Water seemed to consider its options. It formed an eye and studied the rangers, then the soldiers and its former puppet corpses.

It shot passed them to the door, doubling back on itself at the last moment and swamping the rangers in its embrace.

"Hold your fire," Cartwright ordered. "Don't hit the rangers."

Red and White Cross bucked and struggled within the blackness. Though protected from infection by their suits, their air would soon run out and they'd be completely immobilised.

"Storm advent!" a male voice hollered.

Lightning coursed across the surface of the black mass. A blue-armoured figure, his hand the sources of the electricity, stepped over the fallen bodies and into the fray. His armour sported a number of deep purple details and the symbol upon his helmet was a mixture of water droplets and a lightning bolt.

The Black Water screeched, and pulled away from Red Cross and White Cross.

The General himself, joined by a number of his personal staff, followed the blue ranger in.

Cartwright saluted. "General Bryant, sir."

He was fuming, torn between detaining them all and watching them do their job. "Remind me to court-martial the man who built the barracks. The boy slipped passed far too easily."

The blue ranger joined the others, and they ranked up between the soldiers and the retreating black mass.

"Al. Robert. I tried to get here as soon as I could," he said.

"Ken? Is that you?"

"Of course, who else?"

"When were you going to tell me about this?" White Cross took her eyes off the Black Water for a moment. Her brother looked strong in his armour, nothing like the boy she used to know.

"Only just found out myself."

The mass formed a mouth for itself and addressed the room. "You've driven us out again."

"You better run," said Blue Cross. "Before we do something drastic."

"Times will change for your species, Magi. Fear tomorrow."

Without warning the black mass zipped towards General Bryant and engulfed him, before blasting upward and breaking out through the rocky ceiling into the open air. The General was left panting on the floor.

His attendants helped him to his feet. "Scramble the jets," he spluttered through a mouth full of Black Water. "Don't lose sight of the mass."

The call went out and pilots poured from their nearby ready rooms into their planes.

The sound of engines followed them, as General Bryant, his staff and Sergeant Cartwright escorted the three rangers out into the corridor, back to the barracks and quarters.

"You'll be debriefed when I call for you," he said on the way, giving them little chance to breath. "For now, get some rest. This isn't over by a long short."

Across the base, men and women were on clean up.

o0o

Once the General had taken his leave, Lieutenant Moses entered the room after Robert, Allison and Ken.

"I haven't been entirely honest with you three…"

Robert quirked an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"I mean that I know what magi are, and I know what you're supposed to represent." She sat on the camp bunk and averted her eyes.

Lt. Moses continued: "My father was always convinced he was one of them, bless his heart. Traced the family back centuries. He spent years talking of one day finding the remaining descendants of the nine clans." She chuckled. "You know, it's funny that I'm the one to see his dream through really."

Allison joined her on the bed, and was about to question her further, but the lieutenant didn't stop her confession.

"I didn't want to believe him. Magic… it's not real, is it? Shows what I know…" She sighed. "I want to start again. My name is Lieutenant Catherine Moses, and I'd be honoured to sponsor your place with the Agency, for what little good it'll do."

"Sponsor?" asked Ken.

"General Bryant doesn't just let anyone join his ranks. You have to earn your place. I think you've managed that. That leaves a sponsor: someone in the Agency to vouch for your integrity. You'd be better off with Sergeant Cartwright in a sense as she's seen you in action, but he trusts my judgement nonetheless."

"We never wanted to join this Agency, Lieutenant," said Robert.

"… I know how you feel, I do, but if it means anonymity from the rest of the army and the public, you'd be a fool not to accept." She shrugged, though she seemed apologetic. "In my honest opinion."

"She has got a point, Rob."

"Alright, but this power isn't part of the military. It's ours alone. That's important. We'll use it to combat the Black Water and that's it. No foreign dictators and no wars against terror. Got it?"

Lt. Moses stood and moved for the door. "I'll work on the General for you then. Be back soon to escort you to debrief. Bryant doesn't like to hang around… but I'm sure you've noticed."

Indeed, the man was quite the whirlwind.


	4. Incursion Four: Tomorrow

**Incursion Four****: **_**Tomorrow.**_

Allison, Robert and Ken had just gotten back from their debriefing with General Bryant, a man who in no uncertain terms sought to use them. They sat in silence in their too small quarters.

After who knew how long, Ken spoke. "Do you guys think Bryant was looking a bit… ill?"

"You know," said Robert, pushing himself up off the camping bed and into a sitting position. "He was a bit at that."

"Well, he hasn't slept since being engulfed by the Black Water." Allison shrugged. "We should probably cut him some slack."

"And how many living things do we know—beside us—who can survive _that_ unscathed?" Robert countered. "The elk certainly didn't."

"So we keep an eye on him?" Ken frowned, and swung his legs down from the top bunk. "And what if he … mutates?"

Robert hung his head. "Then we'll have to put him down, won't we."

o0o

Bryant glanced up from his desk to see Catherine standing to attention and waiting patiently for permission to speak. He put down his pen. "What is it Lt. Moses?"

"I wish to officially announce my sponsorship of the Cross Ranger's entry to the Agency."

"For what reasons?" The General leaned back in his chair, an action that said _this should be good._

"I believe they've already demonstrated their usefulness to us, sir, and we both have the same goal in mind."

"Be that as it may, are you really willing to stake your rank against this? If they fail, you'll be out of a job. Those are the rules."

Lt. Moses gritted her teeth. "I'm willing."

General Bryant shook his head, and returned to his paper work.

Catherine wondered whether she was doing the right thing. Turning those three into soldiers would be the hardest mission she'd had in her career. She didn't know them that well, but she felt they could be trusted. _Call it intuition_.

After a while, he addressed her again.

"They are totally untrained. Kenneth Powel, the blue ranger, was found trying break into one of our secret hangers. His sister, Allison, is an infamous activist. She led the group who chained themselves to the other side of the quarantine wall in an attempt to get noticed… And Robert Lam? A fool if ever there was one." He chuckled derisively. "They are trouble, Miss Moses."

"Then I'll train them to the best of my ability. Their heart is in the right place."

"Heart," he scoffed. "Very well, be this on your head. They have _one_ more chance to prove themselves. I'll consider the matter further."

Catherine saluted and left the General's office, making a beeline once more for the ranger's quarters. She had a lot to tell them.

She knocked on the door, and heard a scuffling inside. A face appeared at the window to check who was calling for them. Clearly they had yet to put their trust in the Agency. Though naturally she hoped that would change in time.

The door opened to reveal Robert. "Lieutenant?"

"May I come in?"

He stepped aside; appeased that it was her and not the General or some random sergeant.

"I've just spoken with General Bryant," she said. "He agreed to my sponsoring you, and will consider you members of the Agency just so long as you can prove yourself."

Allison threw up her hands in defeat. "Haven't we done that already?"

"You've won me and Cartwright over—and dare I say it her squads—the ones you fought with in the hanger… but the General is a difficult man to please… clearly"

Allison sighed. "_Okay_… okay. If that's what it takes."

Lieutenant Moses smiled. They were finally getting somewhere.

She thought back to her father's quest to find the clan descendants. _I'm doing this for you, dad. Because I never believed in you, and because the world desperately needs something to believe in these dark times._

"What do you know about our powers?" Ken asked, taking everyone by surprise. "I'm okay using them for whatever needs to be done, but I'd like to understand them at little better before then."

"If this power is _that_ old why do we look so futuristic in our armour?" added Robert.

"Oh, well, I can't really answer that..." she said, "but, everything my family knows about the magi makes no mention of power suits of any kind. My guess is you formed them from your own imaginations using the Power."

The Lieutenant chewed her lip, and tried to remember the stories of her childhood. "It's been a long time since I recalled any of this, so I might be a little rusty but…

o0o

_In ancient times, just after us humans put our nomadic hunter-gatherer ways behind us and became farmers, a great evil, much like the Black Water we face today, cast its shadow across the land._

_After much bloodshed, mystics from nine of the most powerful tribes came together to forge a new hope for their people. They confined themselves to their tents for thirty-one days and nights, and when they emerged they brought with them the nine grand runes._

_The mystics furnished their tribes with one rune each—fire, water, earth, air, lightning, sonic, metal and darkness—and from the power held within the symbols, wielded great strength against the evil that plagued them._

_Soon they defeated that ancient evil, but found in peace the tribes returned to their old ways. The head of the fire clan wanted the nine runes for himself. The others protested, and the dark clan seemed content with sowing discord and war amongst their fellows._

o0o

"… It's safe to say destroyed themselves in the war that followed, since their civilisation is long gone. Yet, their children inherited the power of the runes, and their children after that, and…" She regarded the three of them, and tried to imagine the family tree linking them back to ancient times and the six clans their powers represented. "And you guys are the end of that line. So Dad said."

"That's a lot to take in," said Robert.

Allison frowned. "If we are descendants of these ancient tribal mages, then why do Ken and I have different powers. We're biological siblings."

"Well that I can't answer… we're talking more than a few centuries between them and you after all. Plenty of time for the bloodlines to mix." Lt. Moses chuckled. "What I _can_ say is that you, Robert, are the last descendent of the fire and metal clans. Allison, you're of the air and light clans, and Ken is from the water and lightning clans."

"That's six." Robert crossed his legs. Talk of magic and ancient history didn't interest him one bit. He wanted to know what this meant practically. "What about the other three clans, did they just die out?"

"You'd have had more luck asking my Dad that, only…"

"Is he-"

Knowing just what Robert was about to ask, Allison knocked him over the head and interrupted him with a glare. "We're sorry for your loss."

"Oh now don't. It happened years ago, and I'm long passed mourning."

She knew that was a lie, but would rather people didn't worry about her. The Catherine Moses who'd joined the army was long gone; the Lt. Moses they saw before them was stronger, faster, and better equipped for this life. Nevertheless, her father had meant a great deal to her. Despite her refusal to care, and above all else, he'd taught her what he knew about the magi clans.

With the arrival of the Cross Rangers the tide might well be turning, and through them she hoped she might avenge her father's death at the hands of the Black Water.

The warning klaxon blared throughout the base.

General Bryant's voice sounded over the crackling comms system. "_A group of grunts have formed from the sewers downtown. Our cams report they are being led by a human. Your first consideration is towards ensuring the infection doesn't spread into the city's water supply._"

Lt Moses snapped to attention, dropping all pretence. "Cross Rangers. Move out!"

o0o

General Bryant watched the rangers and Lt Moses leave via armoured helicarrier. He still didn't know what to think about them. He certainly couldn't quantify their abilities, and that pissed him off.

However…

He dropped his gaze to the inky black symbol slowly etching itself across the back of his hand. A few hours ago it had been nothing more than a spot on his wrist, but now he could clearly make out a moon and a star encircled by a thick black line that grew darker with every passing moment. And since then his other hand had been shining a white wisp-like air symbol.

He quickly pulled on his gloves, hacked a wheezing cough and returned to his office.

No one needed to know about this.

o0o

The Cross Rangers leaped from the helicarrier, morphed mid fall and parachuted to the ground. They landed in front of the slowly advancing horde of grunts and discarded their chutes.

"Stop right there," said Red Cross.

The horde shambled closer still.

White Cross shook her head. "Did you really expect that to work?"

"Not really." He shrugged. "But it was worth a try."

Before they could launch their unique attacks, the rumoured leader stepped forward and the grunts came to a halt.

To their surprise he bore a strange resemblance to General Bryant, but he wasn't human, not anymore at least.

Tied like a blindfold across his eyes, across his chest and shoulders, and right leg were an extensive series of bandages. His entire left leg had been replaced by a mass of black water and his left arm was enlarged to the point his knuckles dragged along the ground.

Though he appeared to have no eyes beneath his bandages, he perceived them well enough.

"Magi…"

"Yeah? And who are you?" asked Blue Cross.

Red Cross had seen a number of humans infected by the Black Water since the situation blew out of control—the soldiers killed by the elk and later reanimated to name a few—but something felt off about this guy. Why did he look like the general?

"I am No-one." He raised his oversized arm over his head. "And soon you will be no-one too."


	5. Incursion Five: No-one

**Incursion Five****: **_**No-one.**_

"_I am No-one." He raised his oversized arm over his head. "And soon you will be no-one too."_

The Red Cross Ranger looked at his two friends and smirked. "I don't know about you guys but I was getting used to being a someone. Oh well…"

As he turned back to No-one he swung his hand out and called, "Flame Advent!"

A cone of fire roared towards the worryingly calm mutant. It veered off at the last second and incinerated a group of grunts.

He grinned maliciously, mouth splitting open from ear to ear to revealed rows of sharpened teeth. "Your attacks are … nothing."

Red Cross threw another flame advent, and again, it shot off to the side, roasting another swath of pitch-coloured grunts.

"Damn…" Blue Cross said, and then swore under his breath.

A pool of Black Water spread from No-one's leg and a fresh batch grunts hauled themselves out of it.

"They are nothing too," said No-one. "Replaceable."

A hail of bullets, coursing with living shadow, pummelled into the horde felling yet more of the grunts.

The rangers turned to see the culprit. Standing on top a nearby building was a black ranger, the owner of the shadow-spewing gun.

He somersaulted off the roof and dove toward No-one. He tucked and rolled on impact, and flung the mutant into a lamp post with deft precision.

"I didn't know there were more of us…" said Red Cross in disbelief.

He saw now that the symbol on the black ranger's helmet was that of the Air clan and a moon—which he took to signify the dark clan that Lt. Moses told them about earlier.

No-one growled and ordered the grunts forward to attack the rangers.

White Cross opened up straight away with a tornado advent, blasting their feet out from under them. Her attack was followed by one of her brother's storm advent attacks, turning the grunts to an inert mush.

While White and Blue dealt with the small fry, Red Cross joined the black ranger in grappling with No-one. No matter what they did, no matter how far or hard they threw or burnt him, he sprung back again.

"It's no use, magi," No-one taunted. "You won't defeat me that way."

Indeed any attack that did hit was quickly swallowed up by Black Water. His wounds seemed to heal by the same process, explaining his appearance.

"Turn back now, Red. Or I'll force you myself," the black ranger spoke. "This one is mine."

"Are you serious?"

Without taking his eyes off No-one, Black pointed his shadow gun at Red Cross and fired.

"Of course I'm serious."

As he fell, Robert's armour dissolved back into the morpher on the back of his hand.

Despite having their hands full, White Cross and Blue Cross fought their way over to him to protect him from further damage. The blue ranger brandished a crackling palm full of storm advent lightning at the Black ranger, while White kept a close eye on No-one.

"You okay?" she asked.

Robert clutched frantically at his wounds, but found he had none. His suit had taken the brunt of the damage, leaving him with little more than a nasty bruise.

"Funnily enough…" He glared at the back of the Black ranger's helmet.

"This one… is mine," the mystery ranger repeated.

They helped Robert to his feet and took him to a safe distance.

The Black ranger meanwhile laid into No-one with all he had. His shadow-based attacks had as little effect as most so far, but he had slightly more success with his own brand of tornado advent.

He blew the mutant back down the street, as far away from the grunts as he could.

White Cross saw this and was taken aback by it. "I think… in his own way… he's trying to help us."

"Anyone who shoots at me isn't helping," Robert wheezed. He attempted to morph again, but found the energy in his mixed clan gem depleted.

The remaining grunts, twelve strong at least, saw their targets and refocused. Ones at the far back of the group launch globs of Black Water at the trio, which White Cross deflected with her winds.

Robert shook his morpher, and grunted. "Looks like I'm out of the fight guys."

"Don't worry," Blue Cross replied. "We'll take care of this."

"Just stay out of trouble, you maniac."

Robert could hear from the sound of her voice alone that the white ranger had just winked at him.

Blue Cross leaped forward and tried out a new attack his genetic instinct had informed him of. "Flood advent."

A tsunami of water poured from his open palms washing the grunt away in one.

White Cross mopped up the stragglers with a new attack of her own. "Blinding Advent," she shouted.

An intense golden light boiled the Black Water the grunts where they stood, quickly evaporating them and the rest of the inert remains. They had, after all, been ordered to ensure the people of the city didn't get infected through the drinking water.

They regrouped with Robert, and took off down the street after No-one and the black ranger.

Surprisingly the mutant had taken every tornado advent without retaliation until he was backed up against the glass frontage of the library atrium.

"Your efforts are nothing."

"So you're stubborn! What do I care?" Rage clung to the black ranger's voice like an insidious venom.

"Your efforts are nothing," No-one repeated.

"Shadow Advent!" the black ranger roared.

A seething ball of shadow formed around his fist, and No-one caught the punch in the stomach. For a moment, the attack had no effect whatsoever. But soon the mutant began to melt back into Black Water.

The black ranger took a step back and folded his arm in victory.

As he melted, not a word passed No-one's grinning maw and soon he was gone. That only seemed to enrage the ranger more.

"Cocky… invincible… little SH-"

"You owe us an explanation," Robert said, interrupting him.

"I owe you nothing."

"We're all magi here, dude. We're all up against mutants like that guy. So what's the damn problem?" Robert, even without his armour, was about ready to punch the mystery ranger.

The black ranger unholstered his gun. "Do I need to shoot you some more?"

White Cross cut in. "You don't have to do that."

"Can you think of one single way that you are qualified for this fight?" The ranger waved his gun around like an extension of his body, "Leave town."

_Thinks he's better than us… I'll show him!_ Robert snapped a hurled his feet at the black ranger. Blue and White caught his arm in time. The other ranger didn't flinch.

He chuckled, "You're friends are sensible."

The sun crept upward into the sky, first bathing the world in long shadows then in its golden glow. He took a step back and disappeared into the darkness.

It was only then that the Cross Rangers realised how long they'd been awake for. The sun was setting when the infected elk first broke through the quarantine wall and a night and a day had come and gone since the Agency had picked them up.

The Powel siblings demorphed to match Robert, now the threat had passed with a somewhat unsatisfying ending.

Ken looked down at himself. "I need a shower, a comfy bed and a fresh change of clothes.

"Amen to that." Robert nodded.

o0o

Lt. Moses and the helicarrier airlifted them shortly, but back at base they had debriefings to attend to.

The trio, accompanied by their sponsor, converged on General Bryant's office, but not before swinging by the base store's and asking the quartermaster if they could borrow some training uniforms as a stopgap.

The General was waiting for them, standing stock still behind his desk.

Lt. Moses saluted but the rangers didn't know whether they were supposed to or not. Ken hedged his bets and did so, earning him a glare from Allison and Robert.

"I've just been sent a report of your skirmish." Bryant got down to business quickly. "I can confirm the city's water supply is safe."

Lt. Moses lowered her hand. "Sir, the grunts didn't appear from the sewers."

"Oh?"

"They were led by a man… a mutant sorry… calling himself No-one. He could produce them at will from his-" She paused, unsure how to explain further.

The General wave her off, absolving her of the need to report. "I get the picture, lieutenant."

"There's something else, sir."

He sighed. "Do tell." Bryant looked as though he wanted to go home and rest as much as they did.

"A fourth ranger was the one to force No-one into retreat. A _black_ cross ranger."

"Thank you for informing me." Bryant sat calmly and spun his chair to face the picture wall to the rear of his office. "For now, we'll keep an eye on him. If the situation gets out of hand, we bring him in for questioning."

"One more thing, General Bryant, sir." Lt. Moses hated having to talk so much in front of her CO, Robert could tell. "We need to talk about the Cross Rangers, themselves."

Bryant spun back around to face them, and place his hands firmly on the desk. "Yes we do.

"In fact, while you were away I drew up a plan. It occurs to me how foolish it is to concentrate their abilities on this city and this section of the quarantine wall alone. As it stands there's over 400 miles worth of unprotected terrain along the wall, and a goodly portion of that is heavily populated."

He handed Lt. Moses a file from atop the desk. "This folder contains all the details of your new assignment." He turned to peer at the rangers. "If you are to be a part of this Agency then you will follow my orders, and that includes saluting superior officers."

Ken grinned at his sister, but a look was all it took to wipe it from his face.

The General continued: "I am relocating you to nearby Fort Lowsdale. There you will take the guise of civilians, friends living together in an apartment, and will resume a normal life—in jobs specified in the mission folder—until called upon to do your duty. Your families will be informed of this… to some extent. They will be lead to believe you have enlisted and are on an secret island training retreat paid for by us. Under no circumstances are you to divulge the true nature of this mission. Is that clear?"

He waited for his words to sink in, and just as Lt. Moses was about to confirm she understood he interrupted her. "You're dismissed."

She closed her mouth and saluted, urging the rangers to do the same. "Yes, sir."

o0o

Lt. Moses left the rangers to their thoughts. They needed rest and she needed some time out, so she meandered toward the officer's mess to grab something to eat.

She'd hardly sat down at the end of one of the mess's long canteen tables, when a female officer sat down across from her with her own tray.

"Catherine."

The lieutenant looked up. "Yes, _Captain Austin_?"

"I just wanted to congratulate you on getting a command."

The woman had her auburn hair down. Catherine wondered how long it would take for someone to point out such a nonstandard application of Agency dress code. But she'd known the Captain long enough to realise no one but the General would pull her up on it.

"Thanks Maria, but I'd hardly call it a command."

"Shut up, I call it how I see it." Maria paused to take a bite of mystery meat. She pushed the tray away not long after. "I brought the rangers in, you know, I found them in the streets in a bust up with some poor mutant deer. I don't mind saying, they looked pretty damn awesome. Guess the almighty Bryant doesn't like me enough though…"

"Hey, you can have the project if you want it. You _do_ outrank me."

Captain Austin laughed, almost snorting her water. "Be that as it may… I don't have the patience to take on a second command. My squads and I do just fine."

Deep down Lt. Catherine Moses knew she was the right one for the job, but she felt the situation getting more and more complicated as time ran on.

What would she be ordered to do next?


	6. Incursion Six: False Lives, True Heroes

**Incursion Six****: **_**The False Lives of True Heroes.**_

Ken, Robert and Allison were permitted a final day to get their affairs in order. A day to perpetuate the ruse forced upon them by General Bryant.

Robert dropped his standard issue duffel in the hall with a whump. His mother and father came out of the lounge to see him off, hugging for support.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" Mr Lam asked. His eyes spoke of both pride and betrayal.

"Yes, dad." Robert placed a hand on his mother's shoulder. "It is. I've sat around the house for too long, it's not fair on you guys, and every day more land is infected by the Black Water. I've feel I have to do… _some_thing you know?"

"… but couldn't you just volunteer at the refugee shelters?" said Mrs Lam.

"I could, ma, but it's just not the same."

He felt a pang of guilt at lying to his parents. He didn't want to join the army, he didn't want to be their shill, but he couldn't see another way around it. At least if they were in Fort Lowsdale they'd be off the base and living a life. A false life, but a life nonetheless.

"This way I can get my hands dirty. This way I can make a measurable difference. Me volunteering won't give the homeless back their houses, it won't drive the infection out of their homelands."

Mr Lam nodded. "You know, son. I didn't think I live to see you take this kind of initiative. I won't lie, I'd hoped you go to college, find a nice girl to settle down with, give your ma and I some grandchildren."

"_Dad_," Robert whined.

"I know, I know, but this may be the last we see of you. Don't you get that?"

"Of course, Dad, but once my training is complete they say I can file for leave." He choked back the guilt, and pushed on. _It has to be like this_, he told himself. "I'll visit as often as I can, I promise."

Not wanting to drag it out any longer than he had to, Robert shrugged on his jacket and picked up his duffel bag.

He left the house, walked down the way to the Agency car waiting for him on the street, and didn't look back for fear of breaking down.

"We're proud of you," his parent's called out to him.

Their words stuck in his mind for a long time to come.

o0o

Across town, the Powel siblings had their own bags packed and were waiting curbside for an Agency car to pick them up.

They only had their uncle to tell, and he hadn't taken the news well.

"_This is how you repay my hospitality? By swanning off to some island courtesy of the _damned _military?"_

"_It's for training," Allison protested._

"_You," their uncle spat. "I'd never have expected you, of all people, to enlist. Miss flower-power-save-the-world…"_

"_That's still who I am, only this way, I'll actually get to see results!"_

_He balled his fists. "Take your bags and get out. If you ever get leave, don't come back here. I promised your late parents you wouldn't get in trouble, well I guess I failed." He stormed off into the lounge and slumped into his favourite chair. "Don't come crying to me when it blows up in your faces!"_

Ken wrapped his arm around his sister. "That could have gone better, I know."

"We have no family left." She threw his arm off. "None. No one."

"We have each _other_," Ken stressed.

Allison jumped to her feet and screamed in frustration. "You know what I mean. We have a life here and we have to give it all up."

"Yeah. To save the world."

"You sure about that?" she said. "You sure we aren't just playing into the General's game? News flash: he doesn't like us much. He's trying to get us out of the picture."

Ken took her by the shoulders and touched her on the back of the head. Since they were kids, whenever his big sister got worked up like this, he used to hug her and gently stroke her hair to calm her down. He grown too old for the hug aspect of it, but habits died hard.

"Then we'll play his stupid games, and we'll make ourselves indispensable." He shook her. "Won't we!"

Not long after the Agency car pulled up, and Robert leaped out of the back doors and grabbed their bags.

It didn't take a genius to work out they'd had an argument. "I hope you two are ready."

They looked at each other and smiled. Allison spoke: "We'll never be ready, Rob, but we have to do _something_, don't we. Let's do this."

o0o

In the helicarrier, on the way to Fort Lowsdale, 100 miles west of their home town and Agency HQ, Lt. Moses filled them in on the particulars of their mission.

"The flat you'll be renting is owned by a front company of ours, officially your landlord will be a man by the name of Edward Sanders. Lieutenant Sanders that is… one of our own."

Robert rolled his eyes. "Nifty way for General Bryant to keep an eye on us…"

"I know you don't like it, but in order to use your powers to better effect we need to follow orders."

"Do you believe that?" said Allison.

"Uh… I-"

"_Do you_?"

"I don't need to believe." She sat up straighter. "I'm a lieutenant in the military. I follow orders."

"_Great_," said Ken.

Lt. Moses cleared her throat and changed the subject. "In order to maintain the ruse, you will need to get jobs to pay for rent. The Agency has sorted this out for you already."

She opened the mission folder and read: "Robert, you'll be working in the kitchens of the Fort Lowsdale Bar and Grill. Allison, in light of your activism and to put you in a better position to observe, you'll be a support worker at the Refugee Camps north of the town. And finally, Ken. Your new life is at UFL."

"My cover is as a college student?"

"The University of Fort Lowsdale is one of the highest scoring in the country. As such the town has a high density of students, nearly out numbering regular citizens. If as a team you are to keep abreast of the situation, you'll need to have the locals on side. Listen to them. I'm sure you'll figure out all you need to know, whatever the mission throws at you."

Robert raised his hand and smirked. "Let me get this straight. If Ken and Allison get these important fact finding jobs, then why am I stuck in a ruddy kitchen?"

"A chef, a student and a social worker. Doesn't sound _that_ suspicious, does it?" Allison said, siding with Lt. Moses.

He huffed. "I'm still not convinced."

"Your cover has been tailored and administered by the best we have. It's foolproof."

"I'll believe that when I see it…"

The remainder of the trip was uneventful, consisting of paper work and learning their cover stories, new backgrounds and new goals in life.

"One more thing: In the field you will be known by codenames to protect your cover. Red Cross, White Cross and Blue Cross."

Ken chuckled. "How patriotic."

o0o

The Agency car dropped them off at their new apartment building. At four stories tall, the red brick construction stood out amongst the comparatively low rise buildings. Their flat was on the top floor, and that couldn't have been a coincidence.

They each shouldered their bags and trudged up to the door.

Robert pressed the supervisor call button on the door and a gruff voice sounded in return.

"_Yes?_"

He shrugged, unsure what to say. He went with gut instinct. "Hi, we just rented a top floor flat from you?"

"_Are you Robert Lam, or perhaps Kenneth Powel?_"

"Robert, sir."

"_Good, excellent. Come on up. I'll meet you there with your keys._"

The door buzzed and unlocked. It opened out into a small reception hall with no more than a staircase, a laundry room and the resident's individual post boxes.

The trio bypassed all that to head up the winding stairs to the top floor.

Standing at the far end of the square landing, next to the last of the floors three flats, was a man with dark buzz cut. He held out his hand in greeting, which they each shook in turn.

"I'm _Mr _Sanders. Your landlord." Though he smiled, it took an obvious force of will. He handed Robert a ring of keys, six in total. One each for the door and one each for…

"The other is a key for your post box," he added. "Don't lose 'em, cause I sure as anything won't be paying to replace them."

"Thanks, sir."

Edward Sanders glared at Robert as if to say _drop the sir business_. "If you need anything, you already know who to call."

Without further chat, the 'landlord' tramped back downstairs to his first floor flat.

Allison grabbed the keys and tried them at random until one slid into the lock.

The flat was ready furnished, no surprise there, in neutral browns with cheap magnolia wall paint. A few black-framed, stock photos of cities, famous bridges and waterfalls softened the Spartan interior.

The main room, into which the front door opened, was a catch all living, dining, food preparation space, easily big enough to accommodate three adults. Off the back of this room, a simple magnolia hallway led to the three equally-sized bedrooms and single bathroom.

"Could do with a little personalising," said Ken, finding the fridge stocked with the kind of food your grandma brought you because you were'_a growing young lad_'.

They hadn't been in the flat more than a minute, not even getting a chance to inspect their bedrooms, when there was a knock on the door.

Allison found herself closest. She opened it with a smile to find a young man about her brother's age with short, scruffy red hair and thick hipster-like glasses.

"Hi." He stuck out his hand. "I'm Brad. Brad Reiter. Just saw the new landlord show you in. How you liking it so far?"

She glanced back at Robert and her brother, who both shrugged, then took Brad's hand to shake. "Nice to meet you."

The red head peered passed her with curiosity and saw the guys.

"These two are Robert, and my little brother Ken." As an afterthought, and knowing it would please Lt. Moses, she added, "He's a transfer to UFL."

She offered for Brad to come in, which he did so gladly after shaking both Robert and Ken's hands.

"I'm a student there too," he said to Ken. "What you studying?"

"Uh… I don't really know yet. A place opened up at the last minute, so it's been a bit of a whirlwind."

"Ah, I hear you." He nodded and shoved his glasses back up his nose.

They talked for an hour or so about this and that, and by the end of it Allison was sure Ken had founded a new friend. The mission must be daunting enough for him, without adding the stress of acting like a college student day-in-day-out.

Brad excused himself not long after, and Robert was almost glad to be rid of him.

"That boy can sure talk. You'd have thought he'd never seen another human being before."

"Lay off it." Ken shrugged. "I kinda like him."


	7. Incursion Seven: The Need to Strive

**Incursion Seven****: **_**The Need to Strive.**_

The rangers were left to their own devices for a week before they heard anything from the Agency.

Mr Sanders seemed to drop off the face of the earth after showing them around, and their bills, of which most were taken care of, were to be forwarded to a third party address. The Agency weren't making it easy.

Yet they had to admit, it was all rather fool proof. All _too _fool proof.

Robert decided one morning he wanted to talk to Sanders. If they were going work together, however indirectly, then he felt he needed to know a little more about the guy. Would it be considered stepping out of line to be a conscientious human being? He must have had a family, or friends, or some semblance of life outside the military.

He knocked on the door of flat one.

A woman with a military hair cut answer the door. "Yeah?"

"Hi, uh, is Mr Sanders in?"

A twinkle of amusement flickered across her face. She folded her arms. "Mr Sanders has been moved on. I'm your new landlady."

"_New_?"

"Yes," she said. "Now, if there's nothing building-based I can do for you, I've got things to be getting on with. Good day."

She door slammed down. Her footstep could be heard beating away into the flat.

_Mr Sanders has been moved on?! What does that mean?_ Robert had a feeling he didn't want to find out. This move out of the city was supposed to be about getting separation from the Agency, when in reality they seemed closer than ever.

He thought back to the General's dislike of them, and wondered whether, if given half the chance he would _move them on_ as well.

_What am I thinking? Of course he would!_

o0o

Ken had met up with Brad early on his first morning at the University of Fort Lowsdale. He'd stepped out of the flat to find the man locking his front door, and figured 'what the heck'.

It turned out that Brad was striving for a bachelors in education. He wanted to teach the curriculum he believed would help society through to the final days of the infection… if they ever came.

Ken realised he could talk for hours about the subject when he finally shut up just outside the UFL library. Apparently, or so Brad thought, the current key stage curriculum was woefully unprepared for the task of bringing up a generation of kids who knew nothing but refugee camps and threats from beyond the wall, kids who may well have come from the foster care system.

All very intriguing stuff that Ken really didn't care much about. He liked Brad's dedication though and decided then and there to find something he could be so passionate about... once the Cross Rangers became a thing of the past… if they became a thing of the past.

Ken spent the day trying out half hour segments of a variety of courses.

"As it so happens," the admissions clerk said. "We don't usually do this for transfer students, but the dean has granted you permission. Consider yourself lucky."

He'd laughed for a good minute at that—luck had nothing to do with it—but at the end of the day he was still no closer to registering his major and minor.

o0o

As one of society's fortunate ones, Allison had so far managed to ignore the problems people were facing thanks to the Black Water.

It took little more than a few seconds on that first morning to realise how stupid she'd been, and just how devastating things had been before the Agency erected the quarantine wall.

She met a family, a young couple and their baby daughter, while shadowing a fellow support worker.

The father had worked as a doctor just south of the quarantine border, bringing in enough money for his family to live in a huge house in Aloha Springs.

About a month before the start of the wall's construction, a pack of mutated bears had torn through their neighbourhood. He'd done his best to tend to the wounded, but by the end of the night his entire practice lay in ruins. With no source of income and no town left to live in, they'd be forced to travel with a group of refugees headed for Fort Lowsdale.

His little girl had not long come down with a potentially fatal fever from a tick bite on the journey north. Allison listen to him recite the exact medical attention she needed to make it past the end of the month. It all sounded very treatable, but a harsh reality hung over them.

There was simply no money to treat the poor girl.

Back at the flat, Ken and Robert had tried desperately to cheer Allison up, but she simply couldn't shake that experience. Not in a hurry, perhaps not ever.

She knew now what being a Cross Ranger meant. If they had the power to stop things like that happening, there'd be no further need for initiatives like General Bryant's Agency and therefore more money to divert to refugees.

o0o

At the weekend, Lt. Moses came over for lunch. Her cover story was that of a childhood friend who lived in the area. She insisted many times they call her Catherine.

In the time since they last seen each other, she been busy. Not only were the ranger's codenames official Agency designations now, along with Black Cross and all future uses of the format, but they'd been granted project status.

As Catherine explained it, if you had project status you had access to a portion of the Agency's research and development team.

Although they were a few days from completion she showed them the plans for a series of personal weapons, tailored to individual magi powers. Robert would have access to an extending spear that would channel his fire, Allison, a pair of ornate swords like those used for centuries in Asia, and Ken, a blaster gun. Aside from those three R&D had drafted plans for other such weapons but without a ranger to design them around had put them on hold.

They took a break from work to have lunch and talk about the week, but eventually Catherine worked the conversation back toward the mission.

"I've also had another idea. We know there's a least one other magi active right?"

"Black Cross." Robert recalled the battle he'd had with the mystery ranger, specifically being shot at point blank range and knocked out of the battle with No-one.

"Exactly," she said. "And knowing he isn't really on our side… or any side… gives us even more reason to find the remaining two magi. After all, you'll have better odds if you work in greater numbers."

"Sure…" Allison considered this for moment, then pointed out a glaring hole in the plan. "But how do we find them? We can't just ask."

Catherine pulled a tablet pc from her bag and booted it up. "Ken, do you remember the blood sample we took when the Agency first brought you in."

He scratched the crook of his elbow. "Yeah?"

"We had it analysed after you activated and compared against a baseline human. Uh… me. I just got the results back this morning." She loaded up the data in question and highlighted the portion of Ken's genome that linked him to the clan power. "Using this, I believe I can find them, the others."

"We just have to ask an entire town's worth of people for blood and wait for the results."

"Enough of the sass, Robert. This is serious." Though he had only been joking that time, he'd struck a nerve. She'd had more than enough of his constant criticism of her methods, and made a note to bring it up at a later date.

She continued: "A hair will do at a push, but yes, blood is preferable. I'm working on getting access to the national hospital records to speed things up, but in the meantime, make sure you keep an eye peeled for the warning signs."

Robert grinned at Ken, mischief etched across his face. He turned to Catherine. "What about the guy across the hall? Brad Reiter?"

He sniggered, though the lieutenant didn't seem to get the joke. Neither did the Powel's…

He waved a hand around and attempted to backtrack. "You know, because he's the last person you'd expect? A dork like that... No?"

Catherine folded her arms. Robert was really pissing her off now. "The very nature of this power makes it all inclusive. By definition of genetics, it could be Brad, but we have no way of knowing unless we test his DNA."

"Dude, I was only kidding around."

"Well don't!" Allison snapped. Her mind flipped to the family back at the refugee camp. "You're still treating this like a game, Robert. I thought it was cute at first, but you don't know the first thing about suffering, do you? You still have parents, and you've never actually talked to anyone less fortunate than you. Just… grow up!"

She pushed her chair back and stormed off to her bedroom. The sudden motion threatened to topple it, but Ken stayed it and tucked it back under the breakfast bar.

"Do you want me to go talk to her?"

"No." Catherine shook her head and squared up to Robert. "Because she has every right to upset with you. Maybe it was a mistake to give you a job in a kitchen. Maybe you should have been the one to work at the camp instead."

"I just-"

"Don't just anything. I'm with Allison on this. You don't understand the magnitude of the situation."

Robert stood too and flung his arms up in protest. "But I want to understand!"

Catherine sighed. "I think we better leave it there for today. I have work to do, and I suggest you search for new magi as well." She pushed her tablet back into her bag and headed for the door to let herself out. "They're out there, Robert. And by God we'll need their help."

o0o

General Bryant stood alone on the Agency HQ helipad.

This time of night the base ran on the barest of skeleton crews, but to make sure he wasn't disturbed he ordered all personnel away from the hanger levels.

If they wanted to keep their commissions, they'd do what he said.

Finger by finger, hand by hand, he pulled off his gloves to reveal the two glowing magi symbols of the air and darkness clans.

He turned his eyes out to the wilderness around the mountain. The base stood just north of the quarantine wall, and from the helipad one could see the infected lands, huge beasts that didn't bear thinking about and the rivers of vile black ichor.

And yet his eye glossed over that and to focus on all the abandoned towns and villages. He growled and activated his morpher.

Before he could morph, he felt a wetness trickle down his cheek. He wiped it off on the palm of his hand. Tears of black… Black Water.

_I'll purge this land, I'll purge it all…_

"… If it's the last thing I ever do!" he yelled into the wind. He turned in the other direction to see the city spread out before him in the shadow of the mountains.

"This is my town."


	8. Incursion Eight: Bad Day, Good Day

**Incursion Eight****: ** _**Bad Day, Good Day.**_

Robert slid the current order onto the hot plate and called, "Service." A waiter rushed over to whisk the food away into the depths of the busy dining hall.

He grabbed the next order as if on autopilot, read it and clipped it onto a 'current' peg.

Even though he'd not been working at the restaurant for long, he knew the menu back to front, front to back. He guessed he could probably cook it in his sleep. So as he prepared the meal, he thought to himself.

He was honestly pretty bummed out. His friends took him for an idiot, for someone who couldn't understand a damn thing.

_I'm not insensitive… I've lived through plenty of attacks since the meteor shower._

He flipped the two burgers and chuckled.

_You don't have to be parentless, or homeless, or frickin' shirtless to get the magnitude of the situation…_

But maybe they had a point.

Robert had never asked for it, but they looked to him for leadership, he knew that. He didn't want to accept it, but he saw it. Ken didn't trust himself to break free of his sister's shadow, but Allison? When Robert did something stupid, sure, she knew when to rein him in, but that wasn't the same as leading.

He assembled the two plates—burgers and fries—directly in the service area and called for someone to deliver it to the customers.

He paused. The time had come to try something different. They didn't need a red ranger who wanted to lighten the mood. The world was at war with a sentient plague.

They needed a man who was plain, simple and to the point. They needed a military man.

Robert felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He tapped another chef on the shoulder, apologised and made a break for it out back before the manager noticed.

"Hello?"

"_Rob. It's Allison._" An explosion sounded in the background. "_We've got trouble on the UFL campus._"

"I'll be right there."

He hung up and glanced back through the door into the kitchen. He sighed, tore off his apron and threw it over the lid of the trade recycling bin, and ran.

_It's only a job..._

o0o

When he arrived at the university, Robert noticed the panic first. Though he had nothing to go on, he felt certain that following the loudest noises would lead him to the others.

Sure enough, he found them on the football field already morphed and engaged in battle with No-one; the mutated, bandaged and blindfolded almost copy of General Bryant with an obsession for oblivion.

Finding a secluded spot, he morphed and dashed into the fray. He distracted the mutant with the hottest stream of flame he could muster

"Next time," he yelled. "Go on a rampage _after_ my shift ends. I'm so getting fired for this."

He hesitated, imagining White Cross' derision of his quip. No-one took the opening and slammed his bulging, oversized arm into Red Cross' stomach.

He crumpled to the floor. It felt like being hit by a falling tree.

The rangers regrouped, and helped him to his feet.

"Point taken, Allison." He readied himself for the next attack. "I'm not going to be that guy anymore. No more messing around."

"That's really not what I meant…"

"No. My mind's made up. I'm all guts now."

He stepped forward and swung his arms out to the side. "Iron advent!" His arms hardened, taking on the appearance of metal, and seemed to glint with unseen edge.

"Hit me with a wind, White."

She was about to protest when realised what Red Cross was up to. She launched a whirlwind straight for him, hoping he knew what he was doing.

The wind picked him up and spun him until he was nothing more than blur of shining metal grey and red, a vortex of death. The tornado advent tore toward No-one. The mutant jumped from its path, but White Cross used her power to curl it back.

Robert's blade arms sliced into No-one, rending flesh and bandage alike. The gauze fell from his regular sized arm to reveal bad scarring across the entirety of the back of his hand. His usual air of nonchalance broke and he frantically attempted to hide it.

This gave Blue Cross a chance to launch his own. "Flood Advent!" he roared, and a torrent of water gushed forth from his hands washing No-one off his legs.

He hit the grass with a dull whump and melted instantly into a pool of Black Water that seeped down into the soil.

The grass seemed to double in size in his wake.

Red Cross moved to demorph, but they'd drawn somewhat of a crowd. He didn't know what he thought would happen, but there were no cheers, no clapping or whooping at their victory, only whispers and uncertainty.

"What crawled up their-"

"Let's get out of here," said White Cross.

o0o

Almost as soon as mobile phone footage of the battle on University grounds had leaked to the media via social media, General Bryant had called Lieutenant Moses in, and he didn't sound happy.

Then again, he never did these days.

She skulked down the corridor in the Agency's mountain HQ, saw his office door open and knocked as she entered.

General Bryant shot up, and pulled on his gloves. Catherine thought she'd just seen a glowing symbol on the back of his hand, but quickly shrugged it off. His skin was a lot paler than last she'd seen him.

"Lieutenant. You have some explaining to do."

"If this is about the university…"

"It's about _your_ ranger's tearing around a billion dollar campus and failing to put down the enemy. We can't afford to look like fools."

"But no one outside HQ can link the Cross Rangers to the Agency."

"Someone soon will, Moses. The public aren't stupid." He slapped a crisp newspaper down on the desk. No doubt he'd had it pulled it fresh from the press before the story ran to the entirety of Steele City. "The media are already slating them for the damage they did to the football field."

"What do you expect me to do? Tell them they can't do their job?"

The General's voice rose to a roar, ricocheting out into the corridor. "Keep them occupied and out of the way! Understand?" He choked on his anger for a second, before pushing onward regardless. "We have trained professionals on hand to deal with situations like these in a safe, and more importantly cost effective, manner."

"But-"

"I hate the Black Water as much as the next," he interrupted. "but if you don't keep the rangers on a short leash, I'm going to be forced to cut the project loose."

Catherine's mind flashed back to the magi symbols she'd glimpsed—_had he noticed? _She wondered—and the continued appearance of the Black Cross in the city since they'd relocated. He'd been more than forthcoming with his hatred for the 'untrained menace' as he called them.

Did he want them out of the way so he, his fellow darkness clan member the Black Cross, and the Agency could claim all the glory? And what, if anything, did this have to do with his decreasing health after being engulfed by the Black Water?

In a way, she didn't want to know—the longer the Cross Rangers could do their thing without interference, the better—but she suspected, in the end, she mightn't have a choice.

A torrent of threats later, many painted in colourful language, he dismissed her and she headed straight for R&D. Now more than ever, she wanted to find the next magi.

o0o

The Rangers had gone straight back to the flat. Robert cooked diner out of sheer habit, and they ate in silence, before turning in for the night.

Had he surprised them with his decisiveness? In all honestly, he hadn't felt any difference. Joking around, no joking around… as long as he got the job done, what was all the fuss about?

He could tell however that Allison was still miffed with him.

What good would his knowing suffering do? Did it help her get through the day? Robert would much rather attack from the high ground. Stay in high spirits that is. What helped _him_ get through it all was a dogged, stubborn belief that they had the power to make a difference, no matter what.

Why else would they have been given such a chance?

There was a knock at the door but before anyone could answer a key slid in to the lock and there stood their new landlady. She marched straight over to Robert who was still in the kitchen washing up and slapped a contract down in front of him.

"Shape up, Lam. I can't negotiate _every_ time you get yourself fired."

Almost as quick as she'd appeared, she disappeared back out the door.

A quiet, groggy voice came from the bedroom corridor. Allison followed. "Robert? Who was that?"

"Our landlady."

"Land_lady_?"

"Yeah."

Allison rolled her eyes and spun on her heels. She trudged straight back to her room.

Honestly, that summed it all up for Robert. It was difficult keeping track of everything they were _supposed_ to be, so difficult in fact it encroached on the crux of the matter. They, as Rangers, existed to save people from evil. That was all, it, the one and the only.

He saw that now, and if General Bryant wanted to keep them on their toes with personnel changes then so be it.

_We don't need a military man, we need me, at my best,_ he thought.

o0o

Lt. Moses burst into the flat at eight in the morning the next day.

A groggy Robert stopped shuffling around the kitchen island, and set the milk down on the side. It took him a moment to realise who he was looking at.

He rubbed his eyes and sighed. "Good morning, Catherine…"

"Robert, are the other's awake?" she asked. "I have some great news."

Ken and Allison stepped out of their bedrooms as if on cue. "We are now."

"I stayed up late last night scouring through DNA records. It took a while but after matching it all against the electoral roll, I found him." She grinned and held up a manila folder. "I actually found him, and you won't believe who it is."

"Really?"

They gathered in the kitchen and Catherine pulled a picture from the folder. She slapped it down with a flourish.

Robert's mouth hung open. "And there's no way you're wrong?"

She folded her arms. "Not unless my father's theories are wrong—did I mention he devoted his life to this?"

"Still…"

"Brad Reiter." Ken blinked, rubbed his eyes and took a second look. "_Brad_ is the next magi?!"


	9. Magi Short 1: Robert's Story

_A special little interlude. These will happen from time to time, and will focus on a specfic character and a specific moment. They don't necessarily match up to the chronology of the main saga (hence why they are billed as shorts and not incursions...) but many will... more or less. Canon, but a little way out of continuity. _

_Got it?_

_Good._

* * *

Shoulders hunched, Robert slid in to the restaurant kitchen through the back door. Of course the Agency had bargained for his job back. Of _course_. He dreaded to think what their newest lie was. If he kept his head down and did the job he was supposed to, he hoped it wouldn't come up.

It would have been nice to know what the plan was though. How did they expect him to keep being a Ranger secret when he didn't know the part they intended for him to play?

_Ah well,_ he thought, hanging his jacket on a peg on his way to wash his hands, _Par for the course really. _

He dried off and slammed the paper towel into the bin.

His boss heard the commotion and poked his head around the door. "How are you doing, Robert?"

"Oh, I'm fine, chef," he lied.

"Did you get that family emergency sorted out?"

Robert couldn't tell if he believed the story or not, but either way it seemed to have passed inspection… this time. "Yeah, thanks. Sorry about the other day."

"Don't mention it." He too crossed over to the skin to wash his hands. As he lathered up, he spoke once more. "Things these days are tough. My family's all right up here, but I can't imagine what it's like down in Steele City. You're a good man for dealing with shit like that and coming out the other side."

"Thanks, man." Robert raised an eyebrow and smiled. "You know, you're the first person I've met who really gets it."

"I'm always willing to give second chances, but…" The chef chuckled. "I've got to admit, your aunt makes a persuasive case." He winked on the way past Robert. "No more cutting out on a shift without telling me though."

o0o

Once the lunch time rush died down, Robert took his break.

If he had one good thing to say about working here, it had to be that getting one free grill of your choice. A _definite_ perk. He supposed working wasn't all that bad. The menu had never been difficult to cook to deadline considering half of it was pre-prepared.

To give the situation its due-being a ranger, playing into the Agency's hand-it had forced him to think about his life. Back in Steele City he'd done little more than drift. You could only play so much football you before realised you weren't doing anything truly productive with your time.

The kind of good that came from dodgy situations always surprised him. Life moved in mysterious ways.

The front door chimed. Robert looked up from his burger expecting to see a customer, and locked eyes with the landlady, his supposed _aunt_.

"What are you doing here?"

"Now, now, is that anyway to treat _family_?" she grinned and slid into the booth next to him. "I just thought I'd come and check in on you. Call it protecting my assets. If you don't work, you can't pay rent."

"Is that why you came, huh…" Robert dropped the burger back onto his plate. His appetite deserted him.

"Look. I understand why you don't trust me, so let me get one thing straight," she whispered. "My only concern is your cover. Give me a reason to talk to you about it and I will. Otherwise I'll kept well out of your business. You're Moses' concern, not mine."

"That's great. Just fine." He stood, taking his lunch with him. "Answer me this though. Why are _you_ here and not Mr Sanders."

"Sanders was… a _misjudgement_ on our behalf."

Robert sighed. "That's all you're going to tell me, isn't it."

Her silence said it all.

"Okay, whatever. I've got work to do, you've got work to do. We done here?"

"Of course."

As Robert neared the door to the kitchen, his 'aunt' spoke again. "Mr Sanders wasn't working out, that's all. So we got rid of him. Let that be a warning to you and your friends. Nothing you do in life makes you immune to getting fired."

o0o

Toward the end of Robert's shift Allison, Ken and Catherine came into to see how he was doing.

"How's getting rehired working out for you?" Ken said, slipping into a booth with the others.

"Oh, you know, same old," Robert said with a shrug. "Besides, it beats sitting around back home in Steele City doing nothing."

"Nothing?" Allison raised an eyebrow and folded her arms. "Us hanging out was doing nothing?"

"You know that's not what I meant..."

Ken shook his head and glared at his sister. "Knock it off, Al." He turned back to Robert. "She's just messing with you, dude."

"Oh… I knew that."

Catherine smiled. Even without formal training the three of them acted as a team, no doubt about that. She supposed she could have ended up lumped with a bunch of bitter enemies. _Better not look at gift horse in the mouth._

"So what would you three like to do tonight?" She said.

Robert thought for a moment. When he spoke, he did so slowly but surely. "Try to take over the world, perhaps?"


End file.
